Wednesday 28 March 2012

Koda Post 2

Welcome to your second Koda Post.

This weeks post is sent in by Nicola Jeffrey. Instead of opting to write her own posting, she has asked that I put the following in it's place, and being a fellow Koda, I was not going to refuse.

Cathy Brockman and friends will be hosting a blog series of romantic stories starting next Monday. The blog is up with promotional information @ http://storytimewithcathyandherfriends.blogspot.com/.

The stories will be free access to all and will be of four different romance genres.

And while we're here on the theme of Koda Post.




I am excited to be able to present to you this invitation where Author's are live in an onlineconference for all of you to see. Itwould bless me if you could come join me and cheer my fellow Authors and friends.. All you have to do is click the link below atthe time stated then scroll to bottom of page, enter your first and last nameand click enter. You will be directed tothe conference room where you will see me and several others! I personally do not have a book being promoted at this time, but don't let that discourage you. There are many fantastic authors who will be sharing their work with you. I hope you can all come.

Wed, March 28 starts at (12:30am 29th GMT) 7:30EDT/6:30pmCDT/5:30pmMDT/4:30PDT http://1862040.livebroadcast.talkfusionlive.com/golive/m/CgUAN6bNuYCjzTyZ
Thurs March 29 starts at (6:30pmGMT)1:30EDT/12:30CDT/11:30amMDT/10:30amPDT: http://1862040.livebroadcast.talkfusionlive.com/golive/m/vi3VKhy7lT8qNRYU


Friday 23 March 2012

Where were we?

Indeed, it certainly begs the question, where were we when I spoke to you last?

It feels like an age has passed since my last proper posting on here, and a busy one it's been. According to my last posting, it was with regards to Braevar Forest which is still floating as it was left. I want it to simmer and come to the boil before I delve into the cooking pot and see what delicacies it brings to arouse the attention of my muse.

It happens to be simmering well at the moment, but not well enough to dissect the entrails and create a new picture with them. As tempting as it is, there are more than enough undulating pulses that thrive for my attention with what I am currently working on.

As you'll know, or may know, I have 'a few' working projects on the go. If you didn't know that already, then you do now. But my main focus currently is 'the baby'. This connects to the first EVER novel that I started to write. This is the 'love child' of all creations spawned from my ever expanding mind.

Okay so it's nothing fancy, and it's taken a year and 3 months to get it to where it is now. It's crawling towards the end, slowly, but it's heading in that direction. Awakening (the love child) is standing pretty at 73,559 words long. That's pretty good going if you ask me. Considering the fact that it was abandoned for a huge amount of time. Well from August '11 until January 5 '12, which is where I picked it back up.

It will never hold the title of being the best novel in the world, nor will it hold the title of being the first novel I've written from start to finish. I'm afraid that 'finish' title has already been snatched from it's grasp and handed to Timber Varden. Although technically it's still not finished but at least the first draft is. That has to count for something... doesn't it?

I'm dreading the moment where I know I must edit them and fix them up, and this will take up a lot of time. I've got used to that fact and know it must be done. But you see, I'm a novice where novices begin. I know little of what is needed to bring it up to scratch, but I'll tell you something, I am but one member of an amazing group of people on facebook who, like myself, love the written word. What's this group I hear you ask?

It's none other than MasterKoda.Com, with Kim Mutch Emerson the Master Koda herself! Such a beautiful, friendly soul. I'm very fortunate to be welcomed into the hearts of everyone within this group and in the short space of time there, I have made so many wonderful friends. I would name them all but I'd need a longer blog in order to do so, so it is with all my heart that I thank each of them for becoming a great part of my life. And with you all, I hope to learn from and grow amongst.

And who knows, perhaps one of these days I'll actually be in a position to turn round and say that I have a book out there in this world, and I know you're the group of people that will help me get there when the time comes.

Until next time, this is Jennifer Don, signing out!

P.S ... To find MasterKoda.com on facebook hover over the above mention and click on it, and it you want to more about the brains behind MasterKoda then click on Kim's name. To see my Author page on Facebook.... that's right you click on my name.

See that wasn't hard now was it?

Wednesday 21 March 2012

Koda Post

Welcome to the first of what I hope to be many featured posts from authors, marketers, publishers and members from MasterKoda.com The best of the best of support online for those who love the written word.

To mark the first EVER Koda Post, we have a short story for you.

Dominique WaterSinger Goodall - Author
  • End of a Life.

    I walk my pelt once thick and formerly black marked, along wearily. My ink stained pelt, the colour that had once bled from my ears to my back, down my right foreleg and then down my left hind leg. The black was now flecked with silver, the same hue as the remainder of my body. The once clearly contrasting colours now blurred and their lines indistinct. I sighed as I walked; my golden and blue eyes were dimmed a little with age, white covering them both and making it harder to see. I then panted, tiring quickly as I walked. My dry and cracked pink tongue lolled out over yellowed, dulled teeth.
    'I have been lucky...I guess. I am older than most loners make it, and although I never did find another love like my Cuan, I survived for him. I do get lonely though, and hunting is so hard.' My thoughts meandered from topic to topic as my bones cracked. At ten years of age, most wolves would have calmed down, or settled into a pack to enjoy their dotage. But not me, I was stubborn, having met a few wolves here and there through the years, sharing hunting or meals.


  • For the last two years however, I had suffered with painful joints and blurred eyesight. Since then I had relied more on scavenging food, my never heavy body had lost a further ten pounds, so I now hovered around the skeletal weight of fifty five pounds. No wolves had neared me in a long time, my manner of being quiet having scared them all away. My dry nose brushed against the dry leaves off of the mighty trees which dwarfed my tiny frame. My mind wandered again as I compared the leaves to myself.
    'These leaves...dry and aged as I am. No one cares for what happens to them, no one offers them any comfort as they lay being trod under paw. The same will happen to me when my time comes, but at least I will see my Cuan again, and I can apologize to him then. I need to find food soon; my stomach sounds like a starved tiger.' Once, long ago I had observed the large striped felines hunting, a mother with two young cubs. The young cubs were twice the size of the younger me but I had none-the-less followed them and learnt how to hunt in a rudimentary manner.


  • I had stopped walking and scenting while remembering that day, and the day had fallen into twilight, the birds had stopped singing and started roosting for the night. Suddenly, I heard a deer grunt and though my eyes and nose were failing me, my hearing was still keen. I stood still, in my old hunting pattern, one which made my aged shoulders protest. One dainty, bony paw was lifted and my head tipped to the side as the grunt became a bellow of pain. I frowned, loose skin on my forehead wrinkling slightly. A wave of blood scent hit my nose, and made me lean forward.


  • I followed the scent, my mismatched orbs unfocused as I shivered a little. I trod on a twig, which snapped under my slight body, but carried on. The deer was a few more feet forward and seemed to have been killed by a pack of wolves, its side opened to the air but no predator was near. The scent of blood, heat and flesh masked any tell-tale scents of just who, or what, had killed this but I shrugged and began to feed when I was close enough. I was engrossed in my food, swallowing lumps of flesh down as quickly as I could. Many times I had been run off a carcass when I had taken the chance to snatch a few needed bites of stomach-filling food.


  • The first I knew of the creature that had killed the deer I was so eagerly devouring with blunt fangs was a crushing blow to my hind legs, that spun me a full 360 degrees in the opposite direction. A yelp was torn from my muzzle as I landed on my side, blood smearing the leaves where I slid. As I rose onto trembling legs, my right hind-leg lifted clear of the ground and blood pooling underneath me. I stared with incredulous eyes at my attacker. A grizzly bear, standing more than twice my height on all fours was stood there, one viciously clawed paw stained red with blood. Irrevocably, I, small, elderly but still alive, felt rage burn in my veins, pumped around by the rush of adrenaline and pain.
    My lips drew back from stained teeth, and a snarl reverberated in my chest. I limped forward, the now thin pelt on my back still managing to rise up in anger. The grizzly roared in response, and rose to all fours, saliva dripping from its lips and splattering the ground. The small beady eyes fixed on something beyond me, and I spun my head around. A foolish mistake to make as the bear took the opportunity to lumber forward and raise a paw to slap my frail body again. A growl transfixed the bear as my narrowed mismatched eyes turned back in its direction. I crouched lower, lopsided, as the growls quietened in my throat, though the fur there thin, the pink skin visible through it


  • The bear dropped the paw and rested on it, looking like for all the world like it had given up. A small huff sounded from behind me, and I stepped backwards automatically, slipping in the growing pool of blood. As I slipped, the bear rose onto two thick legs, and slammed down the paws on my body, crushing my ribs and spine. Thankfully the pain now faded, the spinal column having been severed. Softer, but still weighty paw steps passed by my muzzle. My mismatched eyes blurring, focused on the cub passing me without a second look.


  • My breathing paused for a moment, finding little space inside the crushed chest, before carrying on shallowly. Dimly, I noticed a shape in the distance, a young wolf, male by the size of him nearing me. His pitch black pelt and almost russet toned chest reminded me of Cuan, a love that had been torn from my life. The young wolf touched his nose to mine, then moving it to my ear so I could hear his whisper soft voice, deep with hidden meaning.

  • "Come with me, my love. We can be together now forever. No more being alone for you, the pack and pups are waiting, have been waiting for these nine years for you to join us. I am proud." My heart at those words slowed, slowed, stopped.
    My injured body no longer filled with life, my heart having always belonged to just one wolf, had come home, leaving my old and worn body beside the deer carcass and the bear mother and cub feeding, to run alongside my love, to meet the pack I once had punished myself for. I was free in a way I never had been before.

For more information upon this Author please click on the name and you will be taken direct to her Author page on Facebook.

Tuesday 13 March 2012

Another Wave!

Here's another new idea that's forming in my mind as I battle to keep the pen focused on the novel at hand. Alas, the words, they had to be written. And so they stand now upon the pages or immortal memory.


Startled, Kaila shot up and out of bed as a shrill scream reverberated through the morning air. At first she assumed the sound had escaped from her very own lungs, as her dreams tormented her. With unseen hands pulling at her, tearing her apart. Scorching her soul with burning embers of coal, those very memories haunted her, endlessly.

But then she heard it once more, closer, almost shaper the second time around. Her heart pounding against her chest in a thundering pace, as if it were telling her not to go venture towards the window, but her mind and body had other ideas. She soon found herself peering out upon the horizon, searching in frantic anticipation for any clues as to what or who had been responsible for those eardrum shattering screams.

Thursday 8 March 2012

The Plot Thickens!!!

I've had a 'Light bulb' moment while at work today. In such I now have another plot line forming for yet another novel. As much as I want to go and work on this now, it just isn't all that possible. I already have two novels on the go, by which I mean being written and one novel awaiting stern Edits. So with that in mind, I have considered this idea to be filed under NaNo 2012 hopefuls.

Here's the Idea that arrived sharply this afternoon.

The title to be is - Braevar Forest.

Destiny is one of the last few known descendants of Brahameer. Who's very bloodline is capable of telepathic communication to the world around them. Whilst unable to communicate in this manner with human kind, the animal kingdom are more willing and forth coming.

A small settlement resides in the heart of Braevar Forests. It's within this settlement that Destiny resides - her family bloodline long since forgotten until one afternoon she finds herself alone in Braevar Forest and facing her fear straight the eye, into the eyes of the wolf.

It is here she discovers her skills of telepathic communication, and it's here that new friendships are born. What will this bring to her, and what will it mean for the community?

Sunday 4 March 2012

The Call Of Arms!

Any writers ready to write, any sprinters ready to sprint?
A calling of arms is upon you now,
So steady the bearing and lay down your foundations.
Call upon that elusive muse,
And send him forth into a world of mystery.
Steady now that quivering quill,
And watch as the ink will bleed your love.
Now off to war with you, with a world of words.
Fly the flag, the banner, and tell the world the writers are coming!

I had to re-share this :D